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Page 536
virulent from being distilled through tears for seven months.
"I do not lie upon any subject, for any reason," Ian blazed. "Who told you such a tale of me?"
"Told me a tale? Would I believe such a thing of you for a telling? You did it before my very eyes! On the morning of the melee, when I was cold and wet with sweat for fear of what would befall you And you did not even deign to bid me farewell! You took my sapphire necklet, so that some woman who does not care a pin for you"
"On the morning of the melee!" Ian went white. "It is true, I remember now. I did take your necklet. In the name of God, is that what has lain on your heart all these monthsthe price of a necklet? Name it! Name the price! I will pay you in goldor if that will not content you, I will buy it back from the whore I gave it to, even if I give double the worth. I thought my life cheap at the pricebut plainly I am not worth a sapphire necklet to you."
Alinor was staring with wide, starting eyes. "To whom did you give it?" she whispered.
"What does that matter? I told you"
"Ian, answer me! It is all in all to me. Answer me!"
Even the intense grief Ian felt at the crumbling of his goddess was pierced by Alinor's intensity. "I gave it to buy information from a highborn whoreLady Mary Gaillon, if you need the namebecause she is known to bed de Quincy, and he is known to have a loose mouth in drink." Bitterness overcame him. "Shall I tell you where she lives so that you can buy it back at the best bargain? Do you fear I will pay too much? I assure you it will be my gold that"
"Ian! Oh, Ian!" Alinor cried, and flung her arms around his neck.
He pushed her away brutally, nearly weeping, so that she fell from the bed to the floor. "Oh God! I

 
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